INTRODUCTION:
We've had fun putting these caches out and everybody seems to be having fun finding them (unless of course, certain insects are out to "get you"). So, we are putting out more (caches, not insects). The theme this time is INSECTS (as you've already figured out by the title). Some of these you may encounter on your geocaching trips and some of them you may wish you had not. Instead of a steady line of caches down the trail, we thought we'd try something new for us. All are easy puzzle caches and the geoart is one of our favorite insects: the dragonfly - as it eats what annoys us all the most: mosquitoes.
Note: There may NOT be cell phone service in some areas of the K & P Trail.
TRANSPORTATION:
The K&P trail is a single lane dirt road with gravel on it in some areas. You can hike it, bike it or drive it albeit very slowly. When placing the caches we never drove over 15 km/hr. Mostly it was at about 10 km/hr. Just when you think it's smooth going a huge puddle hole will "get" you. On bikes, you will have no trouble except if you go out after heavy rain (or during rainfall) as it will be muddy in areas. On foot, be aware that there are very few houses along the way - so don't go alone. Safety in numbers. There are some pretty streams along the way, wetlands and Graham Lake just North of Lavant Station (a nice place for a picnic lunch).
INSECT:
Millipede
Millipedes (class Diplopoda), are terrestrial, usually elongate arthropods with a small head and short antennae. Typically, the body is very hard and subcylindrical, but often with platelike expansions making the animal appear flattened.
The body comprises 11-100 or more similar segments which, except for the first 3-4, consist of fused pairs of true segments. The first and last true segments and the anal plate lack appendages. The second, third and, usually, fourth segments each bear one pair of legs; other segments, 2 pairs. Some appendages in functional adults are modified for reproduction.
Despite the name millipede ("1000-footed"), the number of legs is less than 400, and generally less than 200. Newly hatched millipedes have 3-4 pairs of legs; the number increases following successive molts.
About 10 000 species are known worldwide, mostly from tropical regions. More than 60 species are known to occur in Canada. About 10% of these, particularly in the East, have been introduced from Europe. In Western Canada, fossils of marine, millipedelike arthropods, not directly ancestral to any living group, are known from the mid-Cambrian (530 million years ago).
Tropical millipedes sometimes grow to 30 cm; Canada's largest species barely attain 8 cm; many common species are less than 1 cm long and 1 mm in diameter.
Cylindrical millipedes usually burrow in soil; "flat-backs" occupy matted, rotting vegetation. A few spend periods on the surface, mainly at night. Millipedes are important in soil formation in some deciduous and tropical forests. Virtually all feed on decayed matter or fresh vegetation.
Millipede
The cache can be found at:
Nördlich fünfundvierzig, null fünf. Null vier drei - west sechsundsiebzig, dreiundvierzig. Zwei sechs sechs